A Twitter-only campaign is a cost effective way to associate your brand with a celebrity and reach thousands of engaged consumers.

Here are six tips to reduce and control the costs of a Twitter campaign:

1. Hire a Celebrity with Highly Engaged Followers

Quality over quantity.

Some celebrities might have a smaller Twitter following (maybe only 80,000-150,000, which for some brands may seem low). However, if their followers are active and engaged with the celebrity, it can make for a more meaningful campaign, as opposed to using a celebrity that has over a million followers who are not as actively engaged.

2. Twitter Account Activity Guides the Celebrity Selection

You want a celebrity who is an active Twitter user and someone who has posted recently.

If a celebrity is inactive, their followers won’t be as engaged and most will likely miss a branded tweet.

3. Connecting to Your Brand

Select a celebrity who strongly appeals to your target audience. This will ensure credibility and will greatly increase their connection with your brand.

It is crucial to the campaign’s success that the tweet(s) are believable.

Example: You wouldn’t want a teenage pop singer posting about car tires, but you absolutely would want them posting about a new brand of clothing or maybe a teenage safe driving campaign.

There are various resources such as E-Scores that measure data and provide analytics on the potential reach and appeal a celebrity may hold amongst multiple demographic.

4. Determine the Number of Tweets

Once you choose the celebrity, determine how many tweets you want posted.

Keep in mind, a limited amount of tweets not only keeps cost down but actually increases the likelihood a celebrity will agree to participate.

Bundling multiple tweets (wrapping 2 or 3 together over a period of time) often creates a per tweet cost savings (i.e. one tweet might cost $5,000, but you could possibly get 3 tweets for $12,000).

Any more than 2-3 tweets is usually less attractive to celebrities as it becomes more like a spokesperson campaign.

5. Don’t Require Exclusivity

Most of the time, celebrities will not agree to exclusivity for Twitter-only campaigns because they don’t want to eliminate a potential product category down the road.

One of the real benefits of a Twitter-only campaign is taking advantage of the cost efficient opportunity to work with a celebrity that might normally be out of your budget range. Asking for exclusivity will drive your cost up significantly, eliminating any of those savings.

While it is not illegal for your nonexclusive celebrity to tweet about a competitor brand shortly after your campaign, it is however very unlikely.

6. Tweet Content

Crafting the Tweet(s) is the most important part of the campaign.

The key is to write it with the celebrity’s authentic voice in mind. This is harder than it seems so allow additional time for editing and input from the celebrity and/or the celebrity’s team.

Also remember the FTC guidelines: If a celebrity is accepting payment for the Tweet(s) they must include #ad or #sponsored at the end of each and every paid Tweet.

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I'm Bob Williams, CEO| Speaker | Author of The Brand Agent

The Brand Agent provides resources on how to build brands through celebrities, music and sports.

Celebrity marketing requires special knowledge and skills. My articles are intended to help save you time, money and frustration.

Over my career, I have led in negotiating thousands of celebrity contracts and helped match small and large brands with the right celebrity. I’m glad to share my celebrity marketing expertise with you.